Originally Posted by
VegasGambler
You probably did the right thing. Once you are far enough, it makes sense to get the status. Even if you won't use it next year, you can status match with someone else.
I'm definitely going to get gold this year. Then I have to decide whether it's AS or match to UA for me next year (based in SFO). With the amount that I fly (barely enough to make gold) it doesn't make sense for me to split my business between two carriers so I have to pick one.
As a United MM with “guaranteed” Gold status I get free E+ on any regular economy ticket. With AS I didn’t clear into Premium Class on the many of my flights this year. Fortunately I was able to get an exit row seat on most, but that may now change with the monetization of those seats. Of course, Delta made me pay extra for those economy comfort flights I have coming up. But I have no status with them, so I am not being asked to buy something that I feel I earned.